Head of Operations Control

at  ICBC Standard Bank

ICBC Standard Bank Plc (ICBCS) is 60% owned by Industrial and Commercial Bank of China and 40% by Standard Bank. ICBCS benefits from a unique Chinese and African parentage and an unrivalled global network and level of expertise.
ICBCS is a leading financial markets and commodities bank, driven to deliver the right outcomes for our stakeholders, clients, counterparties and the markets in which we operate. We deliver products in an environment which considers the appropriate needs of our clients, whilst providing guidance and expertise to ensure our employees understand our business and uphold the highest levels of conduct.
Headquartered in London, ICBCS also has operations in Shanghai, Singapore and New York.
At ICBC Standard Bank, we share the same values, challenges and opportunities. We are a diverse, close-knit, global team with a unique heritage and purpose. We put people first, and give talented, self-driven professionals the flexibility, rewards and freedom to grow their expertise, seek new opportunities and realise their potential.

DIVISION SUMMARY:

The Operations department is responsible for ensuring the complete end-to-end processing of the Bank’s transactions and services. They are responsible for ensuring that the appropriate control framework exists to ensure the accuracy of this processing as well as the recording of this in the Bank’s books and records. Operations is also responsible
for the accurate and timely reporting of the Bank’s transactions to multiple regulatory
stakeholders globally.

The Operations department performs the following functions:

• Trade Support
• Financial Settlements
• Physical Settlements
• LME Trade Clearing Services
• Clearing and Vaulting Services
• Structured and Banking Products support
• Facilitation of trade finance and documentary credit products
• Confirmations
• Collateral Management
• Operations Control
• Balance sheet substantiation
• Nostro production and reconciliations
• Risk and control oversight and monitoring
• Regulatory Operations
• Cash, Interest Claims and Nostro management
• Brokerage Services.

REQUIRED SKILLS, KNOWLEDGE, EXPERIENCE AND VALUES:

Experience required to successfully perform the role:

• Extensive previous experience including management experience in a financial institution
• Previous experience working in a control function within a financial institution
• Previous experience of interacting with an organisation’s senior stakeholders
• Previous experience of presenting to committees of senior stakeholders
• Previous experience of preparing risk and control MI for senior management and senior committees

Knowledge, technical skills and expertise:

• Deep understanding of UK banking business and Operations
• Excellent knowledge of risk analysis and management methodologies and practices
• Strong people management skills
• Knowledge of the CASS sourcebook within the FCA Handbook.

Personal attributes:

• High level of integrity
• Self-starter
• Focused on results and delivery
• Effective stakeholder and staff manager
• Resilient

The role would suit someone who:

• works well under pressure
• is able to adapt quickly and effectively to changing circumstances

Skills and knowledge

• Demonstrate continuous development in knowledge and skills relevant to this role (with line manager support where appropriate).
• Staying abreast of industry matters affecting, or potentially affecting, the work performed by Operations Control including evolving standards or new working practices

JOB PURPOSE:

The Head of Operations Control is responsible for management oversight of the day-today functioning and performance of Operations Control on a global basis.
The purpose of Operations Control is to define and maintain a framework for the Operations department which ensures that risks and control deficiencies are continuously identified, assessed, mitigated and remediated in a timely and transparent manner in line with the Bank’s risk and control framework.

Operations Control fulfils this role by:

• defining and implementing processes to identify and manage risks within the Operations department including operational risks, regulatory risks, conduct risks, cyber security risks and financial crime risks (including, but not limited to, risks associated with money laundering, terrorist financing, bribery and corruption, sanctions breaches and fraud);
• implementing processes which successfully detect control failures within or relating to the Operations department;
• performing and acting on root cause analysis;
• performing spot checks and reviews to ensure the Operations department’s control framework is reliable and robust;
• driving a forward-looking and proactive quality assurance programme;
• providing meaningful risk and control reporting for the Head of Ops Control, Sanctions

Screening & Regulatory Operations;

• providing oversight of any remedial work programmes in the Operations department, particularly those designed to remediate regulatory risks;
• ensuring that the Operations department has adequate written policies and procedures/working instructions in place with appropriate governance over those documents;
• taking ownership for the timely remediation of findings raised by the Bank’s second line of defence and third line of defence functions, and working with Operations teams to ensure that issues are appropriately resolved to prevent reoccurrence;
• working in partnership with enabling functions in the Bank to ensure that controls are adequately identified using the Risk and Control Self-Assessment ("RCSA") process and monitored appropriately via the Key Control Indicators ("KCI") process;
• defining and implementing an appropriate Balance Sheet Substantiation framework across the Operations department globally;
• defining and implementing an appropriate strategy for the execution of nostro, contra and stock reconciliations;
• providing oversight of the Operations department’s business continuity plans, as well as the testing approach and risk assessment outcomes from this process;
• providing support and oversight of functional teams to ensure that change is effectively embedded in the Operations department; and
• delivering risk and control training to Operations staff.

Operations Control consists of the following teams:

• Risk and Control (which has a presence in both the Bank’s London andSingapore offices);
• Balance Sheet and Reconciliation Control

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES:

Leadership and management

• Leading and managing Operations Control under the direction of the Head of Ops Control, Sanctions Screening & Regulatory Operations.
• Delivering the strategy for Operations Control as communicated by the Head of Ops Control, Sanctions Screening & Regulatory Operations.
• Managing Operations Control within the budget allocated by the Head of Ops Control, Sanctions Screening & Regulatory Operations.
• Ensuring that staff and processes within Operations Control work effectively and efficiently.
• As a senior member of the Operations department, demonstrating commitment and attention to delivering an excellent service from the Operations department.

Client service

• Ensuring that the service provided by Operations Control is delivered to an excellent standard.
• Leading Operations Control in working collaboratively and effectively with other Operations teams in all global locations to enable excellent service to be delivered by the Operations department to internal and external clients.
• Proactively and promptly remediating any instances of substandard service delivered by the Operations department to any internal or external clients.

Stakeholder management

• Ensuring that Operations Control works collaboratively with other departments in the Bank, particularly when providing information, contributing to Bank-wide initiatives/projects, and reporting information to management.
• Contributing to the Operations department’s input into the Bank-wide New Products Process.

Processes and procedures

• Ensuring the effective and efficient operation of processes within Operations Control.
• Taking proactive steps to optimise processes within Operations Control on a continuous basis.
• Ensuring that processes carried out by Operations Control are accurately captured in written procedures and that these procedures are continuously updated.
• Providing support and oversight of Operations teams to ensure that change is effectively embedded in the Operations department.

Risk management

• Identifying and managing risks within Operations department including operational risks, regulatory risks, conduct risks, cyber security risks andfinancial crime risks (including, but not limited to, risks associated with money laundering, terrorist financing, bribery and corruption, sanctions breaches and fraud).
• Undertaking regular reviews of controls within the Operations department to ensure that these are fit for purpose.
• Working collaboratively with the Operations teams on risk management and control enhancements (but without doing the work for them).
• Escalating promptly new risks to the Head of Ops Control, Sanctions Screening & Regulatory Operations.
• Proactively and promptly managing any risk incidents that relate to or impact the Operations department.
• Performing and acting on robust root cause analysis of incidents.
• Driving a forward-looking and proactive quality assurance programme.
• Ensuring that the Operations department has adequate written policies and procedures/working instructions in place with appropriate governance overthose documents.
• Taking ownership for the timely remediation of findings raised by the Bank’s second line of defence and third line of defence functions and working withOperations teams to ensure that issues are appropriately resolved to prevent reoccurrence.
• Working in partnership with enabling functions in the Bank to ensure that controls are adequately identified using the RCSA process and monitored appropriately via the KCI process.
• Defining and implementing an appropriate Balance Sheet Substantiation framework across Operations globally.
• Defining and implementing an appropriate strategy for the execution of nostro, contra and stock reconciliations.
• Providing oversight of the Operations department’s business continuity plans, as well as the testing approach and risk assessment outcomes from this process.
• Delivering risk and control training to Operations staff.

Client assets

• performing robust first line assurance of the Bank’s CASS adherence (including oversight of the Bank’s processes relating to CASS and ensuring that the Bank’s staff are adhering to the CASS rules);
• Creation and ongoing maintenance of adequate policies and procedures
• Execution of controls in line with policies and procedures
• Producing and reviewing regular and complete MI on CASS adherence and control effectiveness.
• Ensuring the Operations Control team is sufficiently trained in order to ensure CASS adherence.

Staff management

• Providing line management support to direct reports in each of the Operations Control teams.
• Monitoring Operations Control staff performance and taking remedial action as required.
• Ensuring adherence of Operations Control staff to all relevant Bank standards and policies.
• Promoting diversity, challenge and teamwork within Operations Control.
• Identifying, developing and retaining top talent in Operations Control.

Reporting and MI

• Providing meaningful risk and control (including CASS) reporting for the Head of Ops Control, Sanctions Screening & Regulatory Operations.
• Reporting promptly any significant performance, service or risk incidents to the Head of Ops Control, Sanctions Screening & Regulatory Operations.
• Supporting the Head of Ops Control, Sanctions Screening & Regulatory Operations with the preparation of any risk and control MI that is required from the Operations department.

Skills and knowledge

• Demonstrate continuous development in knowledge and skills relevant to this role (with line manager support where appropriate).
• Staying abreast of industry matters affecting, or potentially affecting, the work performed by Operations Control including evolving standards or new working practices.

Culture

• Role modelling the Bank’s values and promoting those values within the Operations department.
• Promoting integrity and openness within Operations Control, and in its client and stakeholder service.
• Supporting integration initiatives between the Operations department and ICBC head office / other ICBC entities

Experience required to successfully perform the role:

• Extensive previous experience including management experience in a financial institution
• Previous experience working in a control function within a financial institution
• Previous experience of interacting with an organisation’s senior stakeholders
• Previous experience of presenting to committees of senior stakeholders
• Previous experience of preparing risk and control MI for senior management and senior committee

The role would suit someone who:

• works well under pressure
• is able to adapt quickly and effectively to changing circumstance